The subject matter disclosed herein relates to solutions for measuring gas mixtures. Specifically, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to in-situ measurements of species in a non-restrictive flow path of a gas mixture.
Gas mixtures are produced under various circumstances such as combustion, chemical reaction, and evaporation. The source of a gas mixture may include but is not limited to: turbines, engines, furnaces, kilns, pulverizers, piles of solid materials such as coal, enclosed material storage systems such as bins or silos, pools of liquid materials such as water treatment facilities. In any of these circumstances, it may be useful to know: (1) the concentration of one or more species in a gas mixture at any given point of time; and (2) the trend of concentrations of one or more species in a gas mixture over a period of time.
Measuring concentration of species in a gas mixture may provide information about explosive or health hazard conditions. Gas concentrations move from the source of the gas mixture via the environment, a pipe, duct or other flow paths. Obtaining several concentrations at the same point in time on a cross-section of a flow path may reveal, for example, inefficiencies in an engine or furnace. Examining trends of concentration of species in a gas mixture may provide an early warning to the development of certain conditions instead of waiting for the concentration to reach a specific level.
Extractive techniques for sampling gas mixtures extract a sample of the gas mixture for analysis using a chamber. After chambering the sample of gas mixture, a chemical analysis or an optical device analysis is applied to obtain measurements of species in the chambered sample of the gas mixture. Analysis using extractive methods delays obtaining the results of the analysis and may provide results that are not representative of the total gas volume.